SLIPPERY ROCK— All it took was a slight hand adjustment.

"The pins weren't carrying through most of the first game,"said veteran bowler Rob Shidemantle, 34, of Slippery Rock as he recalled his three-game series Sept. 14 in the Thursday Nite Men's League at Slippery Rock Lanes.

"I made a little adjustment in my hand position so I could throw the ball out a little longer. That made all the difference."

And how.

Shidemantle wound up striking out in the 10th frame of his first game to finish with a 209. He then rolled his first perfect game.

He followed that by rolling his second career perfect game to complete his set that night.

That's 27 consecutive strikes in one night of bowling that he will never forget.

"I was in a zone like never before,"Shidemantle said. "None of the strikes were Brooklyn (hitting the left side of the pocket) and a couple came in high and tapped the 4-pin.

"It was just one of those nights. Everything was solid."

Shidemantle's 809 series marked his first career 800 as well. The back-to-back perfect games marked a first in the bowling facility's history.

Shidemantle's grandparents, Weldon and Virginia Delp of Harrisville, opened the Slippery Rock facility in 1963 as C&DLanes. His parents ran the establishment for a while after his grandparents retired.

"I was bowling before I learned how to walk,"Shidemantle said.

He averages 207 in the Thursday night league. He also bowls in the Paul Simon Industrial League on Monday nights at Slippery Rock Lanes and averages 209 in that circuit.

Shidemantle's previous high game was 290, which he bowled last year. He's taken numerous perfect games into the 10th frame over the years, only to misfire.

He did bowl a 278 the previous Thursday in league play.

"When I knocked down the first strike of the 10th frame in the second game, everyone was crowded around watching, but were real quiet.

"I didn't like the silence. I wanted noise. I raised my hands in the air and pumped everybody up. It was like a football player waving his arms trying to get the crowd going."

Whatever he did, it worked. And it kept on working in the third game.

"I was pretty relaxed after bowling the first perfect game and I know that helped me in the last game,"Shidemantle said. "To be honest, I was more worried about the 800 series at that point.

"After the second strike in the 10th, I had the 800. I don't even remember throwing the last strike."

Shidemantle returned to Slippery Rock Lanes for his Monday league, rolled a 213 in his first game, then failed to approach a 200 in the last two games.

"It was kind of nerve-racking that night because I felt like I was being held to a higher standard,"Shidemantle said. "I don't think it affected my play, though.

"The new owners were playing with the shot that night. They stripped the lanes and they were really dry on the inside. There weren't many 200s bowled in the entire house that night, so I didn't feel so bad."

Shidemantle said his only goal left in bowling is to roll a 900 series, something that few bowlers have been able to accomplish anywhere.

He refuses to get carried away about his one night of glory, however.

"You need a lot of luck in bowling," he said. "You can have all the skill in the world and never bowl a 300. Other people you'd never think could roll a 300 wind up doing it.

"The gods were just shining on me that night. That's all it was."